Theophilus Dunning was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on 15 October 1618 — not in England, not in Devonshire, and not among the Puritan settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was a Scottish Presbyterian artisan who crossed the Atlantic around 1642 and established a family whose descendants spread across New England, Connecticut, Long Island, and New York. For over a century, his identity has been confused with two entirely different men. This site presents the evidence that finally separates them.
Modern Y-DNA testing has confirmed what the primary records suggest: Theophilus Dunning was a Carruthers of Holmains by blood. The Carruthers family were a prominent landowning family from Dumfriesshire in the Scottish Borders. Through a documented event in Edinburgh in 1618 — where Theophilus was born to Marion Bannatyne and acknowledged by tailor Johnne Dunning on the day of his marriage — Theophilus carried the Dunning surname into colonial New England while his biological lineage remained firmly Carruthers.
His Family Line in New England
Theophilus arrived in Massachusetts around 1642. His son Benjamin Dunning was born in Salem on 17 January 1647 and went on to become Sealer of Leather in Boston in 1682, a prestigious municipal role requiring expert knowledge of the leather trade.
Benjamin had three sons who carried the line forward:
Benjamin Jr. (b. 1679) — settled in Connecticut
John (b. 1681) — settled in Connecticut
Michael (b. 1685) — settled in Orange County, New York, recorded as a cordwainer
If you are a descendant of any of these three lines, you share Carruthers blood from the Scottish Borders.
This site presents the complete research case across five sections:
1.) The Dunning-Downing Confusion — How three men named Theophilus were merged into one by 19th and 20th century genealogists, and how primary records separate them.
2.) Scottish Origins — The Edinburgh records linking the Dunning family to the Carruthers of Holmains, Dumfriesshire, including the 1618 birth and marriage records from the Old Parish Register.
3.) Colonial Massachusetts — Three generations of Dunning family involvement in the leather and textile trades, from Theophilus as Artisan to Benjamin as Sealer of Leather to Michael as cordwainer.
4.) DNA Evidence — Y-DNA results from three independent branches of the Dunning line, all placing the family on the same Holmains Carruthers branch, haplogroup I-FT191896.
5.) Download the Full Research Document — The complete scholarly paper with all primary source images, citations, and evidentiary assessment available as a free download.
This research was conducted by Steve Colburn, FSAScot, Director of DNA Studies, Clan Carruthers Society International. All primary source documents, Y-DNA results, and citations are available in the full research document.
Begin with the evidence — start with The Dunning-Downing Confusion
The Descendants and Origins of Theophilus Dunning 